This is a unique opportunity for an Applied Health Statistician to join an exciting research project with great career development opportunities in an academia-industry collaboration between one of the world's premier universities and one of the UK's leading financial services companies.. 

Please contact alyson.macdonald@landg.com for further information.

We are seeking to appoint an Applied Health Statistician to work in a unique academia-industry collaboration, now in its tenth year; between University College London (UCL) and the Longevity Team in L&G. This is an excellent opportunity for an ambitious statistician to collaborate on research which integrates evidence and methods from social and clinical epidemiology, demography and actuarial science to investigate longevity trends and differentials between sub-groups of the population using a range of publicly available health care data.

The immediate duties of the post will involve: 1) acquiring and analysing data for calculation of US mortality trends;  2) cause-of-death trend analyses between and within socioeconomic groups in England and decomposition of total life expectancy by cause; and 3) contributing to on-going analyses of linked electronic health records for multimorbidity research.

The full scope of the 3 year research programme of work includes:

Longevity Research:

• Review literature and source data to estimate trends in US mortality by broad causes of death. To compare trends in the US against those observed in England since 2001. This study has potential for international collaboration.
• Use demographic methods to decompose changes in life expectancy by broad causes of death to quantify the within-group and between-group drivers of socioeconomic trends from 2001-2015 in England. Quantify socioeconomic differentials in the dispersion of modal ages of death and lifespan at older ages.
• Analyse the ONS Longitudinal Study data (or similar longitudinal survey data) to model predictors of institutional care and length of stay in care homes in England.
• Disseminate findings at national and international scientific meetings.

Multimorbidity research:

• To produce and maintain accurate records and associated documentation of data curation, analysis and validation.
• To conduct statistical analysis eg Cox survival models and multi-state life models.
• Lead on (contribute to) drafting papers for peer reviewed publications (eg methods, tables, results etc).
• Assist in the development of proposals for new relevant research exploiting e-health records (statistical methodological support).
• Assist colleagues to translate research results for use by clinicians, healthcare managers and actuaries.
• Within the first 18 months the post-holder is expected to have made a strong academic contribution to the analyses of at least two papers which will be submitted for publication.
• Further Responsibilities:
• Assist in the production of all study outputs including posters, website information, PowerPoint presentations, feedback to collaborators, dissemination to users and the public, scientific reports and articles.
• Provide administrative support as requested by managers: eg project monitoring reports, prepare agenda and minutes, and provide support to L&G’s Longevity Science Advisory Panel as and when required.
• Work as a conscientious and committed member of the team in order to achieve the aims of the project
• Facilitate collaboration and networking which engages and supports project activities
• Participate in educational activities as appropriate to the stage of your career
• To be committed to your own personal career development
• To carry out other duties commensurate with the grade and purpose of the post.

Qualifications:

PhD or MSc with 5+ years of quantitative research experience in population health statistics (including but not limited to demography, social statistics, epidemiology, public health, health informatics)

Experience

• Experience applying statistical/demographic methods in health research
• Publications in peer-reviewed journals, including as lead (or statistical lead) author (Research Associate) or
• Evidence of high quality research using advanced quantitative methods (Research Assistant)
• Evidence of manipulating and analysing large, national datasets (e.g HES,ONS mortatlity, ELSA)
• Experience in analysis of cross-sectional, longitudinal datasets (e.g. Cox proportional hazard modelling, and/or time-series analysis)
• Analysis of electronic health record data from primary care or disease registries
• Presentation of research to academic and non-academic audience

Knowledge

• Expert user of at least one statistical software package (e.g. SAS, Stata,R) and proficient user of generic IT packages (Excel ,Word, Powerpoint)
• Knowledge of advanced statistical methods eg survival and multi-state models
• Experience of working in a team (eg public health /clinical epidemiologists and/or actuaries)
• Working with and dealing with senior academic staff and corporate managers
• Handling confidential information and communications sensitively
• Some general knowledge and understanding of pensions/annuities industry preferred

Skills

• Methodiologically innovative, with high level statistical competency
• Manage own time effectively, prioritising workload and meeting deadlines
• Excellent communication (written and oral) and interpersonal skills
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively as part of a multi professional team

Aptitude

• Willingness and ability to work in a multi-professional team, and collaborate across disciplines
• Self-motivated, proactive, flexible, innovative, a high level of personal credibility
• Proven aptitude for problem-solving (able to ask relevant questions, identify problems and suggest solutions)
• Commitment to continuous professional development
• Commitment to L&G/UCL’s equal opportunity policy and the ability to work harmoniously with colleagues of all cultures and backgrounds

Whatever your role, we reward ability, performance and attitude with a package that looks after all the things that are important to you. Our employees have a wide range of benefits including a generous pension scheme, life assurance, 22 days’ (with potential to rise to 26 days) holiday, discretionary performance related bonuses, paid overtime, a variety of share schemes, discounts at both a huge range of high street stores and our own great products, your hard work will be rewarded when you join us.

Our view is that this role is suitable for agile working. This means we would consider a more flexible working arrangement, where your hours and work location are managed according to business, customer and personal needs. For this role, you would be based in London, but you could work in other Legal and General offices or at home, as necessary, provided this meets business needs. Details of agile working will be discussed during the interview process.